Update: Galactic Civilizations Manual

from Stardock Forums
I've been in contact with Stardock and JavaScout and the new versions of the manual will be posted on his web site. There are two formats available, PDF and Word Document. They have not been updated as far as content goes, I just OCRed the pages and tried to keep the format as close to the printed manual as possible. There are some updated (color) graphics in a few places that I grabbed from the quickstart guide that comes with the retail version.

I may work on updates to the manual later, depending on whether or not Stardock wants me to help out or not. Enjoy the new versions when JavaScout receives the files and gets them posted on his site.

~SDC~
2,258 views 16 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
They are now posted.
Dang but they have just about used up my allocated file space :D

~SDC~
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Thanks for posting them JavaScout :)

Just giving this thread a little bump up the board since I'm still seeing some people posting about the original manual being hard to read. They should give this version a try since it is a relatively small download (~1.3 MB .PDF / ~1.6 MB .DOC)

~SDC~
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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
OK, I'll bite ... what's the URL?

(Ducking in case that's a really stupid question)

~SDC~
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Just go to JavaScouts web site. There is a sticky post with the URL, I'll also include it here...

http://webpages.charter.net/trevorpowdrell/

The manual links are on the front page of the site. The PDF is the smaller version.

~SDC~
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
Question: is the Word file OK? I downloaded on 2 PCs and can't open the document on either one (Office XP).


~SDC~
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
I also use WinXP and DLed the Word manual. Did not work. I picked up the pdf file but would prefer a Word file.

I can not edit or change a pdf file since I only have the reader. One never knows what one might want to do. Sometimes one wishes to extract a page or two to condense information for ongoing use. :D
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
Try the word document again. I think I have fixed the problem.

~SDC~
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
What is the difference between these files and the manual that came in the retail box?

olaf
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
About 53 MB... nothing has changed content-wise. I updated a few graphics with color versions that came with the quick start guide, but otherwise it is just a smaller, easier to read version of the original manual.

~SDC~
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
The Word version is fine now. :)
I'm making a 'proper' Word document of it right now (applying styles, modifying page size, etc.)
If there's any interest in it I can 'resubmit' it to make it available to everyone.
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
Gerrit, I started the process of converting it to a "proper" document format as well, but stopped for the time being. The current manual will probably become outdate quickly with the bonus pack already released, one patch released and another coming before the end of the week. I just concentrated on getting the manual OCRed for reduced file size and readability in this first version. I'm still waiting to hear from Brad on whether or not they need a hand with keeping the manual up to date.

If you get the word version reformatted, you might as well send it to JavaScout for posting. I can download the reformatted version and convert it into a PDF file to update the format of that version as well. The reformatting needed to be done, but after not playing GalCiv for the first couple of days to get the manual OCRed, spell checked and do a quick read through to correct things the spell check didn't catch, I decided to take a break for the weekend :)

~SDC~
Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top
I'll continue reformatting for the time being since I can't play much at all... :( The game still crashes to my desktop every couple of turns... Can't wait to get home and try the new patches...
I'll send the updated doc to JavaScout (once I'm kindof done).
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
Excellent! Thanks for the effort.

What about errata? For instance, the manual still has Universalists listed as a government... :( Any plans to fix such things or perhaps add an addendum?
Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top
I'm just waiting to hear from Brad concerning updates to the manual (they may want to handle all of that in house). I think he has more pressing issues to deal with for the time being, like some people not seeing the updates through SDC and technical support issues regarding problems with crashes or lockups. I'll let you guys know when I hear something regarding manual updates. I'm sure they'll address it once things slow down a little bit.

Thanks for doing the reformatting of the document Gerrit. I had a word document set up with header and footer formats defined, started doing a conversion of the content... then got addicted to the game once I started playing :)

~SDC~
Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top
I just wanted to let you all know that I just sent the reformatted version to JavaScout (DOC and PDF). It's still far from perfect but already much better IMHO.
File size has remained about the same for the Word doc and the PDF is about 30% smaller. :)
I did use the A6 standard as page size (1/2 A4) but started wondering :notsure: very recently if that was such a brillant idea... Tomorrow I'll probably quickly mark up a version in A4 (or Letter). :D
Big thanks to azakain.